Drought, tree-killing insects raise risk for many areas of US

6:27 AM,
Mar. 27, 2013

Smoke billows from the Little Bear fire June 9 in southeastern New Mexico near Ruidoso, N.M.

Written by

Chuck Raasch
USA Today

Persistent drought and an infestation of tree-killing insects have left broad swaths of the U.S. vulnerable to unusually fierce wildfires for the second straight year just as the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with cuts in its firefighting budget.

Areas most at risk include southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, the eastern Rockies and Florida, according to the federal government's most recent fire analysis.

More than 9.3million acres of public and private land - an area larger than Maryland - burned in 2012, the third-most active wildfire season since 1960, according to the Forest ...